Jane Alexander's Blog, page 2

I have seen my bowels - and they are beautiful. On bowel-scope screening and free drugs

A few months back I got an invitation.  Now, back in the day, I used to get invitations to swish openings, to fancy press events and smart hotels.  Now I get invites to bowel scope screenings. Welcome to middle age.
But seriously, I had no idea that the NHS was now screening people for the early signs of bowel cancer.  So I opened the leaflet and had a read.
Turns out that bowel cancer (colorectal cancer) is the third most common cancer in the UK with about one in eighteen peop...

Who do you think will get my vote?

'Are you going to vote?' James asked over lunch (tortilla, in case you're interested).
'Yes,' I said.  
When I was young, I used to wear a badge saying, 'Don't vote; it only encourages them'.  I thought myself an anarchist, falling in love with the drama and sheer naughtiness of it.  But actually, as I've grown older and less wise, I find myself pondering more and more about anarchy as the ultimate aim. It's a misunderstood term, by and large.  The word comes from the Greek...

Is Niacin the cure for schizophrenia, alcoholism, migraine, arthritis and heart disease?

Now, this is interesting.  When I was in Portugal I read a book called Niacin: the Real Story (click on the cover for more details).


We were taking Niacin four times a day to dilate blood vessels (and so speed up the elimination of toxins from the bloodstream).  In addition, we were told, it would push blood deep into underactive tissue so it could be repaired with vital nutrients.  'It also stabilises blood sugar and repairs DNA' said our detox manual.  Now I've never real...

Mountain-Monk Enku - In Heaven's River

A small parcel arrived the other day.  Inside was a book, pleasingly square, entitled

In Heaven's River: Poems and Carvings of Mountain-Monk Enku

It's a tribute to the life and art of the 17th century Japanese 'Mountain Monk' Enku. Not heard of him? Me neither.  
Enku's life didn't start out too well - he was orphaned at seven when his mother was swept away in a flood. 
'For my mother's lifeThis monk's robe substitutes.May the Dharma formContinueTen thousand generations.
He become a...

Wanted: one retreat centre.

www.darlingdoodlesdesigns.com What would I like for Christmas?  A retreat centre, that's what.  Nothing big and fancy and smart. Not a kick-ass spa or a fancypants hotel but a simple place where people (myself included) could just...be.  Where would it be?  It doesn't entirely matter - though feng shui would prefer that it have water (ocean ideally) in front and mountains (or some sort of hills) behind.  It would embrace all the elements and be head over heels in...

Shiny happy people...

I'm so clean, I'm squeaking.  I swear my innards are glowing. What was going to be a ten day juice fast turned into a twelve day one and, to be honest, it would have been the easiest thing in the world to have kept going.  But one has to come home at some point and so I broke my fast on the plane with melon, nibbling chunks from my little pot while the couple next to me chomped away on monster chicken rolls, crisps and KitKat.  No judgement there, by the way - each to their own...

Loving the Light - Days Eight and Nine

Where is the time going?  I'm losing track.  I'm feeling less and less inclined to turn on my laptop, or even my phone.  More and more I'm finding myself able to enjoy each moment.  I'm noticing the flowers - the bottlebrush (like zingy pot scourers), the mimosa, the orange blossom (oh heady, heady aside in a dell), the jasmine (almost overwhelming, almost sickly), the honeysuckle (bigger, brasher than at home but shy of scent, as if it feels it can't compete with its more...

Stretching and steaming into Days Six and Seven of Detox Diary

Day Six at Moinhos Velhos and everything starts to shift.  The headaches are gone and I’m feeling lighter, brighter, more settled in myself.  You fall into a routine and it’s actually rather nice not to have to think about food; about what to eat or what not to eat.  Now, to be fair, I find fasting easy – and this is the easiest kind of fast of all because you’re actually getting a fair few calories from the juice so you don’t feel the lethargy that can sneak in when you’re wat...

Rummaging in the bowels of detox - Day Five

Day five of my stay at Moinhos Velhos. Fourth day without solid food.  I didn't sleep well and woke feeling a bit dizzy but a good yoga session with Sita sorted me out. Aches and pains have lessened off (I forgot to say I've had raging aches in my joints for the last few days). Hungry? Maybe a little bit at night but nothing to write home about.  One of the retreaters has come off the fast (she'd been fasting before she came so enough is enough) and is eating 'normal' food (tucked a...

Coming a bit undone on Day Four of my detox

The headache comes and goes - sometimes just a tug on the temples, sometimes a vice around my forehead.  It's part of the detox process, of course.  It's my third day without solid food and, actually, that part of it is absolutely fine.  But I'm realising, more and more, that I'm too uptight for words.  I sit by the pool and find myself fidgeting within minutes. I lie on my bed and realise that my shoulders are locked and my arms are so rigid it's as they're clutching some...